Month: September 2017

I was supposed to do most of my packing tonight, along with buying my grandmother a birthday card. Didn’t do a lot of packing and didn’t get the card yet. It’s super late and I still need to go to work tomorrow. I’ll have to leave work a bit early on Friday and rush home to finish my packing. As for the card, I’ll have to get it on Saturday I suppose when I’m in Calgary.

I just checked the forecast for Calgary while I’m there. It might snow on the last day I’m there as temperatures are supposed to go two degrees below freezing. My plane better be off the ground by the time that happens.

Meanwhile, it was hot enough to wear shorts today and it will be even hotter tomorrow here in Vancouver.

I’ve been wanting to upgrade my video card since July and I only was able to get a new one today. The stupid cryptominers have thrown the video card market out of whack. I still wound up overpaying for my video card by about $50 but whatever, I just couldn’t wait any longer.

I’m probably an idiot though as supply seems to be increasing again and price appear to be on the decline. I guess I could have waited longer but that’s time I could have been gaming. Stupidly, I only had one game downloaded on my computer that could take advantage of this new card. I went from playing on “medium” graphics settings on Overwatch to “ultra” settings. I think I reached a peak of 130 frames per second on “ultra” which is good enough for me.

I’m looking forward to downloading some more modern games to put this new piece of hardware to the test.

When I was in San Diego I used UberEATS for the first time. The two times I used it was after midnight when I was back in my hotel, hungry, didn’t feel like going anywhere, and wanted someone to deliver me food. In that respect, UberEATS was perfect. It’s a separate app that you need to download, not the one that you use to get around. Conveniently though, your Uber account works on both apps. The UberEATS app leverages a lot of the existing technologies in the other app, including seeing your driver on a map so you know how close he or she is with your food. The app is also easy to navigate and for the most part, you can even see pictures of the food in the menus.

Both times I used it, I chose Jack in the Box as it was the only establishment that was both open and desirable as a midnight snack. Jack in the Box doesn’t have locations in Vancouver and it’s also headquartered in San Diego which made it an attractive choice. The closest location was about a five-minute drive from my hotel. Each time, from the time I submitted my order to when I had food in hand was less than 30 minutes. I believe the longest part of that time was the app trying to find a driver that would accept the order and delivery. I imagine if a driver was right next to the restaurant and willing to take the order on, my food would have arrived sooner.

Once your order is submitted, the app keeps you up to date on the status. Once your driver is determined, it will update the app with the driver’s name and car. It will also tell you if your order is going from being “prepared” to on the way to your location. Once that happens, the vehicle will also show up on the map. Every step of the way, an estimate of when your food will arrive is available. This is helpful if you need to go downstairs in a large hotel with many floors.

I waited for my driver in front of the hotel and he or she just hands you the food and then drives off. It’s like a pizza delivery guy, except that no money changes hand, it’s all done in the app, even the tipping if you want. I was fairly impressed with the service. I know that many food delivery services exist back at home but none have the infrastructure of Uber behind it. At this time, I’d probably wait until UberEATS arrives in Vancouver before partaking again.

I’m headed to Calgary this Friday evening to celebrate my grandmother’s birthday. I’m pretty sure it’s her 90th, like almost positive. Uh anyways, most of my extended family will be there. Some of whom I haven’t seen for about five years. My parents are going and so is my sister and her husband.

I’m staying in a modest suite in a hotel with my parents. They arrive a day earlier than I do since they have more time on their hands. My flight doesn’t leave until 9:30pm on Friday so I’ll even get to do a full day of work on Friday, yay! Since the fancy celebratory birthday dinner is on Sunday evening, I’ll have to take a vacation day for Monday as I’ll be heading back home at 5pm.

Well, it should a fun and interesting weekend. I just need to survive this week at work.

Due to circumstances beyond my control this evening I found myself at IHOP for dinner tonight. I ordered a t-bone steak at IHOP, which I had never done before. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t great either. I wouldn’t really recommend it to anyone. Stick to the pure breakfast items.

I am a huge fan of Norm Macdonald and these jokes are definitely off-colour and have a strong possibility of insulting those with delicate sensibilities. Caution should be taken. Having said that, some of these are genius.

A few weeks ago Conan traveled to Israel for another one of his globetrotting trips. He of course brought along his cameras. This evening, the special aired on TV and the videos are now on his site. His material when he travels is some of his best work.

In a series of posts that I wrote last winter, I described how I removed the fake fireplace from my living room. It increased the enjoyment I got out of my living room but it also removed the only source of heat in that room. The plan was to wait until around November to figure out a new heating solution. I might need to move the schedule up a bit.

Summer is definitely over in Vancouver. The low temperatures are now starting to drop into the single digits. I left work this evening and it felt like autumn was upon us. At home, I actually had to close the living room window from completely open to just a few inches for fresh air.

On the weekend, I visited the Greenheart TreeWalk out at the UBC Botanical Garden. It’s a much smaller scale version of the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, without the canyon, but with fewer crowds. Even though I went on the weekend, I wasn’t faced with wall to wall tourists.

It’s about half the price of the Cap bridge but you still get to walk amongst the tree tops, from tree to tree like you’re an Ewok. The price of admission also gets you access to the botanical garden which is pretty interesting as well. The tree walk was the main attraction for me though. The suspended walkways have a lot of give up and down and sideways, which adds to the excitement of being dangerously high in the air.

It’s a nice way to spend an hour or two if you’re out by UBC. I’d recommend going on a non-rainy afternoon if possible.